Temperature sensors are used in a wide variety of applications. Typically electronic devices are temperature sensitive and require temperature information in order to be able to protect the device from extreme temperatures. For example, the device may use the temperature information to control the speed of a fan. In other devices, the temperature information may be used to shut down the device when a predetermined temperature is reached or exceeded. The wide range of requirements for devices has led to the development of many different temperature sensors.
Some temperature sensors provide a wide range of temperature measurement, whereas other temperature sensors may only provide temperature information for a small temperature range. In addition to the temperature range sensed, the sensitivity and the accuracy of temperature sensors may also vary widely. Additionally, some temperature sensors work at high voltages while others only work at low voltages.
What is needed is a temperature sensor that has high sensitivity, can work in a large range of temperatures as well as a range of voltages.